Metal base-board.



G. S. KNAPP.

METAL BASE BOARD.

APPLHCATION FILED FEB.19, 1914.

Patented June 15, 1915. 3 SHEETS-SHEETI e. s. KNAPP.

METAL BASIS BOARD. 4 7 APPLICATION FILED FEB-19' I914- 1,M3,23, V Patented June 15, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

wigffiw f/we/zzar Q'eore.fl7 1 I G. S. KNAPP.

METAL BASE BOARD. APPLICATION FILED FEB. I9, 1914.

Patented J 11110 15, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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METAL eAsn-eo.

Specification of tea. m Patented June 15, 1915.

Application filed February 19, 191-2. Serial No. 819,718.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that'I, Gnonsn S. KNAPP, a citizen of the United States, residin at La Grange, in the county of Cook and tate of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metal Base-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

' My invention relates to improvements in metal base boards and fittings for vertical walls of rooms as usually employed in fireproof buildings.

'One of the bjects of my'invention is to provide a metal base board, that is cheap to construct; readily held in place by the plaster and floor structures, independently of its temporary holding means, and which serves to 'unite and holdthe plaster, and plastic material of the composition floor in intimate contact therewith.

.Another object of my invention is to provide means for joining the ends of longitudinal sections of the board, by plates, ar-

' ranged to neatly fit the board so as to back up, or reinforce the sheet metal portions to revent anyinward deflection thereof at the Joints; the relative displacement of which would render visible the otherwise substantially invisible joint. The board being perforated at the shoulders, provided at its longitudinal edges, plaster will pass down through such upper erforations and mastic floor composition wil pass up through the perforations provided in the lower edge and thus back u the intermediate major portion of the boar and thereby the entire board is reinforced from end to end.

. Still another object of my invention is to provide means to temporarily hold the board parts to the wall until the more substantial holding means, such as the plastic material of which the wall and floor may consist is substantially applied thereto.

pear when applied to the wall showing means of making a joint between the abutting ends of contiguous sections. Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3. Fig; 3 is an elevation showin two abutting ends of adjoining sections. 1g." 4 is a section of a modification showing the lower portion of the base board of a form preferably used when a plastic floor'is to be constructed in association with my metal base board. Fig. 5 is an elevation, part of which is broken away and shown in section, of the base board and the means of turning angles and corners. Fig. '6 is a fragmentary section, taken online66ofFig.5;

In all the views thesame reference charactors are employed to indicate similar parts. My base board is of that character of trim that is applied to the lower margin of the vertical walls of rooms and immediately above the floor, as usual in such room structimes. 1 Base boards, of this general type,

especially wooden base boards, are usually applied after the plastering has been comleted to the floor line and the floor has been aid. My board, however, is placed in position and held, by temporary attaching means, to the rough vertical walls of a room, before the plastering has been completed, and before the final finished floor has been laid, and

when so placed its upper forwardly projecting edge of the body part,serves as a ground to which to finish theplast'ering.

In fire proof buildings, where metal base boards are to be used,it is very desirable that'such boards, when completed and finished, shall simulate the appearance of Wood, and therefore it is very desirablev to have the temporary attaching means subsequently covered by later applied finish,-such as the plaster applied to the vertical walls and the fioor,'and hidden from the i iew of the ob- In the drawings 10 represents the vertical in wall, to which the plaster and the base board are to be subsequently applied. It may be composed of brick or may be a wall made of terra cotta, cement, or other suitable fire roof material, as in fire proof structures,,or

if desired, the wall may beof wood, in so far as the applicationiof my base board thereto is concerned.

The board name. of adjoining strips";

of sheet metal, preferably in sections of umform length, adapted to be connected together at abutting edges, by specially designed joining means to be herelnaftermore particularly described.

" The'maim'vertieal, exposed face portion 12 of theboard is-adapted to-be spaced apart from andparallel with the wall 10, a dis tanoe substantially equal'to the thickness of thepla'stei'in g .13, which spa is to be sub w. l1 "bases" The ge of the boardis defiected'rear upper "wardly and downwardly, 'ds at 14, seamen :vertically as; at 15, to provide a more or. less acute angular, longitudinal, groove"1'6, "for inclusion of the plaster 13. The upper edge fbf the board, as at 17, afiording a ground or r guide to which the plaster-is to be .finished and providing a longitudinally extending 1 straight ed'geor border to be flush-with the .lowermarginof theiplasterr '-The strip is again bent downwardly, as at 18, and upwardl'y, as at 19, the-latter portion being the base part-which is in a substantially parallel-plane with the body-portion: 12, of the strip and which portion'is designed to be placed in contact with and temporarily secured to the supporting wall 10. Between the walls 18 and 19 of the strip is provided another groove20,-within which to'contain a portion of the plaster '13, audio provide a blunt terminal edge-of the plaster and to more securely hold the plaster and the upper 24.; The vertical body part or we 'Tostill "provideperforations 21--21 at intervals in edge of the base board in intimate association. further Key the-parts-together I the'wall 15 of the inwardly deflected ledge portion'ofpthe upper surface of the board.

The plaster, which passes through the perforation's, furthermore serves as a su'pport against inward deflection of=the boar and assists inpreventing anv relative separation ofthe parts. The base margin 19 isproand t e vertical portion of the base board and so as to provide a projecting bead or nose which will overlie or cover the 'marginal'ed of the'floor. At the extreme ed e 26,-of t e curved *portion,"the wall is. eflected rearwardlyat-substanti-ally right an gles to the vertical 'portion -12,-as:at 27 to 'overhe' the ed e of the floor 28. The wa'll" is F agam deflects in a vertical direction, as-at 29, to form a ledge separated from the wall 19, and this portionof the structure is pro-' v1ded with a series of plaster receiving 0 en- 'ings 30 similarto the-oplenings 21'prov1ded 1n the upper edge oft plaster to pass 'through and key m' the e board-to t openings 30 and to fill the space backof. the

board. At the lower edge of the ledge29,

the wall is again deflected-at substantial right angles to the. part 27, as at 31', and finally is deflected again at rightangles to provide the base portion 19, which is deobviate a 45 the uare' corner at the juncture of the floor "pare the wall signed to rest againsttlie surface ofthe ver- "tical wall 10. a When the floor 28 is to be made of com- {position plastic material, such as concrete, or the like, the composition will key through 7 the openings 30-30. just as the plaster 13 keys through the openings 21-21, located at the top of the board,-and by this means the lower portion of the board is thus firmly held in place by the composition flo'o'r.

'When a wood floor is used, as shown in'Fig. 5, the proximate edges ofthe wood boards are-adapted to abut against-the vertical wall 31, which,,together with the temporary fas tenings, nails or screws 24:,l-serves-to hold the lower portions ofthe structure against longitudinal or transverse movement. 'To join abutting ends of the continuousbo'ard sections 12 I provideajoiningplate dercut, as at 33, t o save material, and having end base portlons 34 and 34: which are to .be placed in substantially the same vertical 19 o tions 34-34 rest against the vertical wall 10 upon which the board isto be; applied. The front surface 35, of the plate, 1's substantially of the same configuration as the 1plane as are the base-portions19 and cross sectional inner surface-of the. board 11,. and fits into the cavity or channel formed in-the board 11 by the various transverse deflections of the marginal edges thereof, so

that the parts 11 and 25, of the boa-rd, are

in intimate contact with the plate and thus the-plate 32 backs up, or remforces, these exposed portions of the section, at the joints,

so that when an adjacent board section is slipped over the exposed end of the plate 32,

the structure 11,'and which base vpo'rthe vertical meeting edges of the adjacent 1 board sections will be defined b a very fine line, thus renderin thejoints. tions, almost invisi le.

tween se'c- Perforations are made in the base portion 20 for insertion of attaching screws 36 which are screwthreaded into perforations 37 provided in the joining plate 32. When these screws are inserted in their respective screw threaded apertures, at the bottom and top of the board, they apply'a transvelse tension stress to thebody part of the board tending to stretch it along the presented surface "over the oining plate 32, thereby tbringing up the joining ends of adjacent strips snug into a common plane in" contact with the plate, thereby preventing unevenness and springing of the sheet metal at the, joints, and firmly holding the parts against possibility of subsequent relative floor are applied to tlie structure t e screws 36 will be hidden from view, as indicated in Fig. 2. By undercutting the'joining plate 32, as at 33, I not only economizein-the' use of metal, but render it unnecessary .to pre- "displacement. Whenithe plasterin andthe' under the entire base port ons "1 of the plate in order that the plate may be cross section to the plate 32 except that ity is curved through an angle of about 90degrees, depending upon the angle of thegcorner. This plate is usually made. oficast iron and provides substantially the same means of connecting the ends of the adjacent board sections, with the exception that the presented face of the casting 32 is preferably flush with the front faces of the sheet iron sections, on either side, and therefore the casting surface is, in effect, a continuation of the sheet iron section. The salient corners, or angles of the room, substantially as shown near the center of Fig. 5, are taken care of by a plate 32, which. is curved as I shown in Fig. 6, the rounded, presented surface of which, at the corner, is taken tion.

care of in the same manner as in the inner corner, the presented surface being flush with the section 11 presenting a continuation of the surface flush with that of the secsecured to the plate 32, as by screws 36.

The presented surface of'the plate 32, up

to the extreme height of the base board, 1s of the same general configuration as the corner bead structure 38, which registers with and extends from the plate 32 to the ceiling of the room. This corner bead 38 is the subject matter of my United States Patent No. 1,049,733,- dated January 7th, 1913, and needs-no further description here.

In themodification shown in Fig. 4: I

may extend the part 27 deeper in a vertical direction as shown at .27 so that the com-- position floor, made of plastic material, 28

may extend up to the salient angular edge between parts 25 and. 27 of the base board, so as to be in the plane of the curved portion 25 or to be flush therewith at the point where the floor and the baseboard meet. It is evident that the preferred form of my structure may be employed with a composition floor, but the variation shown in Fig. 4 may, in some instances, be preferable.

It will be observed that there is no fitting or changing of the structurenecessary for The sections 11 are secured to the plate 32 in. the same manner asthey are itsapplication to the wall and in shipping the material necessary for its composition, I prefer to secure a plate 32 to one end of each of the sections 11 by means of the attaching screws 26., so that it will only be necessary to insert the end of the adjoining section over the plate 32 and insert the proper screws for making the connection between any two adjoining sections.

While I have herein shown a single embodiment of my invention for the purpose of clear disclosure it is evident that changes may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A metallic base boardadapted for use v with a plastered wall, comprising a strip of sheet metal, a vertical face portion.

formed from said strip and adapted to lie in the plane of the plastered surface, longitudinal attaching portions formed from.

each longitudinal edge of the strip and 1ying in a plane parallel with, and at the rear of, the plane in which the face portion lies, and intermediate longitud nal ledges formed from said strip intermediate the face portion and the attaching portions, and having their major parts disposed in a plane parallel with the plane containing the face portion and between the plane of the face portion and that containmgthe attaching portions, said ledges having perforations substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscrlbmg witnesses.

GEORGE S. KNAPP. In the presence of- STANLEY W. 0001;, MAR! F. ALLEN. 

